When we're researching a company, it's sometimes hard to find the warning signs, but there are some financial metrics that can help spot trouble early. When we see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) in conjunction with a declining base of capital employed, that's often how a mature business shows signs of aging. This indicates to us that the business is not only shrinking the size of its net assets, but its returns are falling as well. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), so let's see why.
What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Groupon, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.067 = US$19m ÷ (US$581m - US$297m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
So, Groupon has an ROCE of 6.7%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Multiline Retail industry average of 11%.
NasdaqGS:GRPN Return on Capital Employed May 12th 2024
In the above chart we have measured Groupon's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Groupon .
What Can We Tell From Groupon's ROCE Trend?
The trend of ROCE doesn't look fantastic because it's fallen from 12% five years ago and the business is utilizing 60% less capital, even after their capital raise (conducted prior to the latest reporting period).
On a side note, Groupon's current liabilities are still rather high at 51% of total assets. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.
What We Can Learn From Groupon's ROCE
In summary, it's unfortunate that Groupon is shrinking its capital base and also generating lower returns. We expect this has contributed to the stock plummeting 81% during the last five years. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.
Groupon does have some risks though, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Groupon that you might be interested in.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
当我们研究一家公司时,有时很难找到警告信号,但是有一些财务指标可以帮助及早发现问题。当我们看到下降时 返回 在资本使用率(ROCE)的下降的同时 基础 就所使用的资本而言,成熟的企业通常会以这种方式显示出老化的迹象。这向我们表明,该企业不仅在缩小其净资产规模,而且其回报率也在下降。从第一次读起,Groupon(纳斯达克股票代码:GRPN)的情况看起来并不太好,所以让我们看看原因。
什么是资本使用回报率(ROCE)?
如果你以前没有与ROCE合作过,它会衡量公司从其业务中使用的资本中产生的 “回报”(税前利润)。要计算Groupon的这个指标,公式如下:
已动用资本回报率 = 息税前收益 (EBIT) ¥(总资产-流动负债)
0.067 = 1900 万美元 ÷(5.81 亿美元-2.97 亿美元) (基于截至2024年3月的过去十二个月)。
因此,Groupon的投资回报率为6.7%。归根结底,这是一个低回报,其表现低于多线零售行业11%的平均水平。
纳斯达克GS:GRPN 2024年5月12日动用资本回报率
在上图中,我们将Groupon先前的投资回报率与之前的表现进行了比较,但可以说,未来更为重要。如果您想了解分析师对未来的预测,则应查看我们的免费Groupon分析师报告。
我们可以从Groupon的投资回报率趋势中得出什么?
投资回报率的趋势看起来并不理想,因为它已从五年前的12%下降了,而且即使在筹集资金(在最新报告期之前进行)之后,该业务使用的资本也减少了60%。
顺便说一句,Groupon的流动负债仍然相当高,占总资产的51%。这可能会带来一些风险,因为该公司的运营基本上在很大程度上依赖其供应商或其他类型的短期债权人。理想情况下,我们希望看到这种情况减少,因为这将意味着减少承担风险的债务。
我们可以从 Groupon 的 ROCE 中学到什么
总而言之,不幸的是,Groupon正在缩小其资本基础,同时产生的回报也较低。我们预计,这导致该股在过去五年中暴跌了81%。既然如此,除非潜在趋势恢复到更积极的轨迹,否则我们会考虑将目光投向其他地方。
但是,Groupon确实存在一些风险,我们已经发现了Groupon的3个警告信号,你可能会感兴趣。